Sept. 19 & 20, 1862 - Battle of Shepherdstown; Stuart and Hampton Attempt to Seize Federal Supplies at Hagerstown

Sept. 18-20, 1862

Battle of Shepherdstown aka the Battle of Boteler's Ford

Jefferson County, [West] Virginia on the Potomac River

McClellan- Fitz John Porter V Corps (relieving Brig. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton who really got the chase started): including the 4th Michigan, and especially featuring the 118th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment (the Corn Regiment), led by Col. Charles Prevost until he is seriously injured here 

vs.

Lee's retreat from Maryland back into Virginia - "minister-artillerist" Brig. Gen. William N. Pendleton as the rearguard, then Jackson dispatches Maj. Gen. A P. Hill's Light Division

* Even before this battle, Confederate wounded were pouring into Shepherdstown after South Mountain and Antietam 

* After Antietam, McClellan eventually sends troops to pursue the fleeing Confederates.

* Poor Pendleton's men are in charge of the rearguard defenses, despite being heavily engaged at Antietam. 

* At first the Union peruses across the Potomac river easily enough (despite sharp-shooters in the cement factory windows), but then A. P. Hill's division counterattacks effectively, and thus ends the Maryland campaign for Lee, and McClellan's pursuit - along with his military career. 

* "The Battle of Shepherdstown equally tempered both army commanders’ zeal for renewing the fighting" 

* Later, during the Mud March after Fredericksburg (Jan. 1863) the PA Corn Regiment gets in a brawl with the 22nd Massachusetts regiment after accusing them of failing to support the Pennsylvanians at Shepherdstown. There was another Maine regiment and whiskey involved, and some describe it as "riot." #OurValleyForge 

* Also, did anybody else notice that pretty much the same thing is going to happen after Gettysburg, as the Rebs retreat through Hagerstown and Falling Waters, and again try to cross back near Williamsport? 

Marker in front of McMurran Hall

Used as a hospital after the Battle of Antietam.

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=1939

"In September 1862, after the Maryland Battles of South Mountain and Antietam, Shepherdstown became a scene of indescribable suffering. “The whole town was a hospital,” wrote resident Mary Bedinger Mitchell. “There was scarcely a building in town that could not with truth seek protection under that plea.”

The wounded Confederates streaming into Shepherdstown after the South Mountain actions of September 14 became a flood totaling 2,000–3,000 by the 18th, the day after Antietam. Soon even places normally deemed unfit for human habitation were turned into hospitals. They included the old abandoned tobacco warehouse at the north end of Princess Street and the incomplete town hall, now Shepherd University’s McMurran Hall, in front of you. Mary Mitchell wrote, “The unfinished Town Hall had stood in naked ugliness for many a long day. Somebody threw a few rough boards across the beams, placed piles of straw over them, laid down single planks to walk upon, and lo it was a hospital at once.”

Shepherdstown experienced the passing of armies for another two and a half years, but the events of the 1862 Maryland Campaign proved the most traumatic for the residents."

"The wounded continued to arrive until the town was quite unable to hold all the disabled and suffering. They filled every building and overflowed into the country round, into farm-houses, barns, corn-cribs, cabins,—wherever four walls and a roof were found together....There were six churches, and they were all full; the Odd Fellow’s Hall, the Freemasons’, the little Town Council Room, the barn-like place known as the Drill Room, all the private houses after their capacity, the shops and empty buildings, the school houses,—every inch of space and yet the cry was for more room.”

—Mary Bedinger Mitchell

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=1957

Cool map if you can see it, but I think we will forgo reviewing the broad strokes of the Antietam campaign once again.

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=1938

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=1948

Here's an overview of the main site in WV. The Civil War Trails and U.S. Army markers are in front, along with the heights, ravines, and some cement kilns. Behind the photographer is the river, the ford, and the remnants of the cement plant. 

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=157752

"After Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's smashing victory over Union Gen. John Pope at the Second Battle of Manassas, Lee decided to invade Maryland to reap the fall harvest, gain Confederate recruits, earn foreign recognition of the Confederacy, and perhaps compel the Union to sue for peace. The Army of Northern Virginia crossed the Potomac River on September 4, 1862. Lee divided his force, detaching Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's corps to capture Harper's Ferry. At Antietam Creek on September 17, Gen. George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac fought Lee's men to a bloody draw. Lee retreated to Virginia September 18-19.

If you had been here on September 19, 1862, you would have seen Federal troops across the river trading shots with the Confederates along this bank. The previous evening, after the bloody Battle of Antietam, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee had pulled his 30,000 troops, horses, and artillery away from Sharpsburg and crossed the Potomac River here. Rain turned the roads to mud and wounded Confederates begged to not be left behind. By the next morning, Lee and the bulk of his army, then across the river heading to Williamsport, planning to reenter Maryland there. Gen. William Pendleton commanded the army's rear guard on the bluffs here above overlooking Boteler's Ford, exchanging fire with Union Gen. George B. McClellan's men. Finally, a Federal charge scattered Pendleton's command. Pendleton rode through the night to inform Lee of the disaster. Lee turned his army back to Shepherdstown"



"On September 20, amid thunderous Union artillery fire, Confederate Gen. A.P. Hill's division slammed into the Union Fifth Corps on the bluffs here and drove the Federals into the river. Some died as they fell or jumped into the narrow ravine, and some were shot in the water. Fighting with defective weapons, the 118th Pennsylvania Infantry lost 271 of 737 men in its first battle. Confederate casualties were 30 killed and 231 wounded.

 President Abraham Lincoln used the end of Lee's Maryland Campaign as an opportunity to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22.

Confederate and Union forces periodically crossed the Potomac River here for the rest of the war.

"Here we have no Sundays. I … see our dead men laying on the dam and the rocks. I pray God that this war soon may close and that it may be known no more in our country forever."
— Pvt. William Livermore, 20th Maine Infantry"

 

Deadly ravines

Did that sign just claim that after he got across the river Lee was heading back to Williamsport to re-enter Maryland? Not so sure about that! It may have been one of the options on the table, but very briefly. OK, yes - he sends Stuart on the offensive, but just because he's heading in the direction of Williamsport doesn't mean he's coming back to MD. It's always about what "could have happened" with Lee, isn't it?

 

The historical markers here don't even get into this, but the (excellent) pamphlets available on site explain that there was an active cement factory at this ford on the river. (Also, its owner, Mr. Boteler, was himself off leading a Confederate cavalry: the Union will burn his home, which visit along with his grave- later) The stone ruins throughout this site are from the factory and related buildings. And contemporary accounts describe the men of the abandoned PA infantry desperately hiding in the stone kilns of the cement factory. The kilns are still there and I climbed in too. Nobody was around the whole time I was there. CreepyAF. 

Cement factory ruins on the river. 





The heights and kilns to the left, with the river just visible to the far right, and factory ruins between the two. 

The burned-out and frequently-flooded but still-standing offices of Boetler's Cement factory 

You know shit got serious when the U.S. Army comes back and sets-up these very detailed historical markers; my understanding is that this means the Army really comes back here to talk about the strategies used and what they might exemplify and whatnot while teaching war. Great. The level of details is a bit much even for me, but occasionally reveal illuminating moments. Reading their content is always optional, but here it is:

"Barnes’ Brigade

Col. James Barnes, 18th Massachusetts Infantry, Commanding
Organization 2d Maine, 18th and 22d Massachusetts, 1st Michigan, 13th and 25th New York, 118th Pennsylvania Infantry, 2d Company Massachusetts Sharpshooters
(September 20, 1862)

Barnes’ Brigade of Morell’s Division, Fifth Corps, crossed the Potomac at the Ford 420 yards south of this at 9 A. M., September 20, under orders to march on the River Road to Shepherdstown. When it became known that A. P. Hill’s Confederate Division was in front and advancing, Gen. Sykes ordered the Brigade to suspend its movement on Shepherdstown and take position on the right of Lovell’s Brigade, which was on the bluffs south of this point. The greater part of the Brigade pushed part way up the slope of the bluffs a few yards west of this, with skirmishers thrown well to the front; the 118th Pennsylvania advanced up the bluff north of this point to extend the Brigade line to the right. The formation of the line had not been completed when the Brigade was ordered to be withdrawn. That portion of the Brigade in front and left was withdrawn, under fire, and recrossed the river in good order and with slight loss, but the 118th Pennsylvania was attacked by A. P. Hill’s Division and suffered severely in killed, wounded and prisoners. (Marker Number B.F. 4.)"

"118th Pennsylvania Infantry.

Corn Exchange Regiment.
Colonel Charles M. Prevost, Commanding.
(September 20, 1862)

The 118th Pennsylvania Infantry (737 men) crossed the river by the Ford south of this and was ordered into position on the bluff running north from this point. The Regiment ascended the bluff and had not completely formed line—375 to 425 yards north of this and about 125 yards west of the river road—when it was attacked in front and on both flanks by A. P. Hill’s Division and, after a short and sanguinary engagement, was obliged to retire in considerable confusion, many of the men escaping by this ravine, others being driven over the precipitous bluff north and killed or mangled; many were captured. Some recrossed the river at the Ford, some by the breast of the dam, 130 yards north of this; others swam the stream above the dam, or crossed between the dam and Ford. Numbers were killed while crossing, by the Confederates, who advanced to the edge of the bluff, some of them occupying the mill and firing from its windows. Others were drowned. The loss of the Regiment was 63 killed, 101 wounded, and 105 captured or missing. The loss of A. P. Hill’s Division in the day's operation was 30 killed and 231 wounded. (Marker Number B.F. 5.)"

All of that took place at the site of the damn on the river at the Cement Factory, and in the surrounding environs. Slightly up the River Road is the location of the actual ford and more heights opposite it. More signs too, but we pretty much know the story by now.

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=157753

"On September 20, 1862, following the battle of Antietam, a small Union force under Maj. Charles Lovell engaged Confederates under Gen. A.P. Hill at this Potomac River ford, ending Maryland Campaign of Gen. R.E. Lee. 118th Pennsylvania had heavy losses at Boteler's Ford, though some soldiers took shelter in old cement mill. Also known as the battle of Shepherdstown."

Whoa boy- here we go again. Further details:

"The Army of Northern Virginia, Gen. R. E. Lee Commanding, crossed Blackford’s Ford during the night of September 18, 1862, and on the morning of the 19th took up its line of march in the direction of Williamsport. Lawton’s and Armistead’s Brigades were left to guard the Ford and 44 guns were placed on the bluffs, north and south of this point, to check the Union pursuit. Heavy Artillery firing and Infantry sharpshooting continued during the day, by which some of the Confederate Artillery was silenced. At dark while the Confederate Artillery was being withdrawn, detachments from the 4th Michigan, 18th and 22nd Mass., and 118th Pennsylvania Infantry, under command of Brigadier General Charles Griffin, crossed the Ford, forced back General Lawton’s and Armistead’s Brigades and captured 2 guns which were taken across the river. Griffin remained on this side between 2 and 3 hours and recrossed to Maryland. Early on the morning of the 20th, the 4th Michigan and 62nd Pennsylvania Infantry crossed to this side of the river and secured 3 guns and several caissons, returning to the Maryland side at 8 A. M. (Marker Number B.F. 2.)"

"Early in the morning of September 20, movements were made by General McClellan to ascertain the position of the Army of Northern Virginia. Maj. Charles S. Lovell’s Brigade (1st and 6th, 2d and 10th, the 11th and 17th U. S. Infantry) Sykes’ Division, 5th Corps, crossed the Ford and pushed out on the Charlestown Road. Barnes' Brigade, Morell’s Division, was ordered to cross and move on Shepherdstown. Lovell had gone about a mile and a half on the Charlestown Road when he met the Confederates in force. The Brigade was deployed, about-faced and fell back to the bluffs bordering the river and on either side of the Charlestown Road. The 2d and 10th Infantry were deployed as skirmishers in a belt of woods on the left front. Warren’s Brigade (5th and 10th N. Y. Infantry) Sykes’ Division, crossed at the Ford and formed on Lovell’s left. Barnes, being ordered by Sykes to form on Lovell’s right, suspended his movement on Shepherdstown and went into position west of the mill, 220 yards north of this point. Lovell’s skirmishers and some Cavalry, which had crossed and gone to the front were now pressed back by the advance of A. P. Hill’s Confederate Division and and Sykes ordered the entire command to recross the Potomac, which was done in good order by Lovell’s and Warren’s Brigades. The Confederate advance on the part of the line held by them being checked by the fire of Weed’s, Randol’s and Van Reed’s Batteries posted on the heights on the Maryland side of the river. Barnes’ Brigade, the last ordered withdrawn, met with great loss at the mill and on the bluffs and river bank beyond. (Marker Number B.F. 3.)"

And once again, with a third name for the ford (and a desperately neutral narrative).

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=62778

"Early settlers crossed the Potomac here. “Stonewall” Jackson and A.P. Hill used this ford on the way to Battle of Antietam. Here Lee’s army crossed after the battle, with the Corn Exchange Regiment, other Federals in pursuit."

And the actual landing spot on the river.

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=157754

"The members and friends of the Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association saved this hallowed ground for future generations

Founder and First President — Edward E. Dunleavy"

It drives me crazy when I can't find a historical marker in the database. This one looks new and indicates appreciable preservation further down the road and the heights behind, but otherwise provides not a whole lot of new information other than context. Maybe I'll add it.  

Proceeding geographically, rather than chronologically for a change: this technically isn't even an historical marker, but here we are - up-hill from the river on the West Virginia side. If I'm reading the map correctly, this is where A. P. Hill was assembling on Sept. 19th. Glad they preserved this part too! And pretty decent closure. 

Ford near Shepherdstown, on the Potomac.

Union Pickets in the dried bed of the C&O Canal in MD Firing Across the River (notice the cement factory)

by Alfred R. Waud, September 1862. -- Published in Harper's Weekly, October 11, 1862.

Sources:

https://www.battlefields.org/preserve/speak-out/protect-virginia-battlefields-massive-data-centers?ms=banner

(^ superb article that convinced me THIS IS the pivotal moment of the MD Campaign -  for both sides.)

https://shepherdstownbattlefield.org/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Shepherdstown

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/shepherdstown

[date of actual visit 17 Feb. 2024] 

**************************************

Sept. 20, 1862

Stuart and Hampton Attempt to Seize Federal Supplies 

Hagerstown, MD

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=204238

General J.E.B. Stuart with General Wade Hampton attacked a large force of Pennsylvania militia under Governor Curtin and General John F. Reynolds near here September 20, 1862. Outnumbered, he retired across the Potomac. He desired to seize federal supplies at Hagerstown.